Lead ball... sort of

[JasonS]

Hi all, I went prodding around on my property today and found a lead ball (and a horse shoe!). Though I've never seen one before, my knee jerk reaction was that it was a musket ball. After researching though it seems that it is smaller, so revolver maybe if it is indeed "shot". ?

As the pics show, it's deformed (looks like a helmet!) like it maybe hit a semi-soft target. I took some high res pics though and while it seems to have a light mold seem and a triangular (maybe square, hard to tell) sprue mark (though it's an indention, so not sure I'm right on that) what has me doubting myself is I can now see a "joint" that runs parallel to the flattened side like it was made from two half-spheres. Which doesn't make sense to me if it was cast. That line is about 90 degrees out of alignment with what appears to be the mold seem.

Anyway, that's why I'm here! Looking straight down at the top of the "helmet", the narrow span measures .471". The long way measures .688". It weighs 9.0 grams or 138 grains. I found a "Sivilich" calculator that says 9 grams would have been a .464" sphere.

This was found in Grimes county, Texas about 75 miles NNW of Houston. It was about 2" deep.

Thank you for any insight!
Jason




Top of the "helmet". Hard to see, but what I think is a mold seem runs from about 11 o'clock to about 5 o'clock through the indented triangle


Bottom of the "helmet"

 

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[nkellam22]

Could easily be a smaller musket ball that was just fired.

 

[l.cutler]

Definitely too small to be a musket ball, most likely a rifle ball.

 

[DetectorTales]

Pretty sure it’s a rifle ball that’s been fired and hit something.

 

[JasonS]

Cool... Liking the answers so far. Thank you! I wasn't expecting to find anything so this is pretty neat to me. Looks like the Kentucky rifle might have been in the ballpark on caliber size. Is there a general time range when balls would have been popular and phased out? I know anyone could have pulled Great Grandpa's rifle out and fired it at any point, so putting an age on it is speculative at best.

I still find this "crack" that circumnavigates it odd. I guess a flying hunk of lead coming to a fast stop can do weird things. Looks like a seam though.

 

[A2coins]

Good ID on the riffle bullet cool find keep rippin lots more cool stuff to find.

 

[A2coins]

Welcome from MI Tommy

 

[invent4hir]

JasonS, good description and photos!

 

[JasonS]

JasonS, good description and photos!

Ha! Thanks... I work in IT and if I've learned anything over the decades it is "if you're going to ask for help, put some effort into describing the problem" and, of course, "reboot it".

 

[JasonS]

Welcome from MI Tommy

Thanks Tommy! I've about exhausted my own property. I need to find somewhere else to search. Used to have a metal detector as a kid and bought a relatively cheap one a few years ago on a whim. Enjoyed the hunt!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

JasonS,

I see you are a brand-new member here at TreasureNet. So although I'm still feeling kinda poorly from a recent hospital stay, because nobody else has come up with the correct ID for your find, I've roused myself to provide it... and also to say, welcome to T-Net's "What Is It? forum... the best place on the internet to get the CORRECT identification for unknown objects.​

Thank you for providing super-precise measurement of your partly-smashed lead ball's weight, in grains. (That saved me the effort of requesting it.) Impact damage changes the shape of a lead bullet, but not its weight. The weight you report, along with the diameter-calculation math result, is an exact match for a .44-caliber Colt Revolver pistol-ball. My info source is the "Handbook of Civil war Bullets & Cartridges" by James E. & Dean S. Thomas. The bulletmold shown in the photo below was manufactured by Colt in the civil war era, and as you see, it contained a cavity for casting a .464" roundball and another cavity for a .455" cylindro-conical bullet.

 

[JasonS]

JasonS,

I see you are a brand-new member here at TreasureNet. So although I'm still feeling kinda poorly from a recent hospital stay, because nobody else has come up with the correct ID for your find, I've roused myself to provide it... and also to say, welcome to T-Net's "What Is It? forum... the best place on the internet to get the CORRECT identification for unknown objects.​

Thank you for providing super-precise measurement of your party-smashed lead's ball's weight, in grains. (That saved me the effort of requesting it.) Impact damage changes the shape of a lead bullet, but not its weight. The weight you report, along with the diameter-calculation math result, is an exact match for a .44-caliber Colt Revolver pistol-ball. My info source is the "Handbook of Civil war Bullets & Cartridges" by James E. & Dean S. Thomas. The bulletmold shown in the photo below was manufactured by Colt in the civil war era, and as you see, it contained a cavity for casting a .464" roundball and another cavity for a .455" cylindro-conical bullet.

Wow, thank you so much!! I do happen to live about 4800 feet from a little cemetery that is full of Confederate soldiers, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see a relic from that era, but I still am. I almost gave up on digging this up. It kept "disappearing" on my cheap little detector. I know it's not a $20 gold coin, but it is sill REALLY neat for me!

Thank you for your insight... Wishing you a speedy recovery!
Jason